I Would Die For You
by PotterPhantomKitten
Summary: One month after the war, Aang is struck with a critical illness - one that endangers his life. Heartbroken, Aang and Katara both vow to be there for each other, but when they're kidnapped, must a dire sacrifice be made to save Aang? Kataang semi-song fic.
1. Vacation Leads To Disaster

**A/N: Okay, so I don't have the 3rd Spyro game yet, but I heard the song from the ending credits and thought of Katara and Aang right away, and decided it would be the inspiration for a fanfic! Therefore, this fanfic arose, and it will include the song (being inspired by it), but not right away. This fic is majorly Kataang – both angst and some fluff. Anyway, let's get on with the fic!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, nor do I own the song "Guide You Home (I Would Die For You)". The song is from the Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, which I do not own either. However, they will have the song on iTunes soon!**

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It was about a month after the war ended, and the world was beginning to rebuild after a century of turmoil. With the world now finally at peace, the Gaang decided to go on a small vacation to the beaches of Ember Island. And a certain Avatar was enjoying it tremendously.

"Hey Katara!" Aang called out gleefully, "How about a race? Last one in the water's a rotten egg!"

"Well, that's not going to be me!" the airbender heard a voice say behind him.

Aang whirled around only to find Katara already swimming in the ocean.

"What the – how?" Aang looked stunned.

"I guess that makes _you_ the rotten egg, Aang!" Sokka laughed. Hawky, his messenger hawk, perched on a branch beside him, now getting into a fight with Momo, Aang's flying lemur, over who would get to stay on the branch

"You looked deep in thought there, Aang," Suki remarked as the airbender got in the water. "What were you thinking about?"

Toph laughed. "Isn't it obvious? Twinkletoes was thinking about Sugar Queen over there!"

"I was not!" Aang protested, his face turning red from blushing.

"I can tell you're lying!" Toph said in a sing-song voice, smirking. "Even through this sand, your voice says it all!"

"Not to mention you look as red as a Fire Nation flag!" Sokka said with a laugh.

Aang looked at Katara, who was blushing as well. Toph had been right of course – he _had_ been thinking about Katara. He couldn't help it; he loved her and knew she loved him back.

"Want go a little farther out into the water Aang?" Katara suggested. "We could do some wave-surfing!"

Aang grinned with delight. "I'd like that!" He leaned over and gave his girlfriend a small kiss before swimming out farther.

"Be careful!" Suki called after them, "There could be dangerous creatures out there!"

Aang's joyful expression changed to a look of concern before quickly returning to his happy demeanor. "Don't worry, I'll stay with Katara! I promise!"

"And I promise I won't let anything happen to Aang!" Katara called back, exchanging a smile with the young airbender.

The two of them used waterbending to create a few large waves, with Katara creating a kind of surfboard of ice for both of them to ride on.

Despite all the fun the two were having with surfing, what Aang and Katara were enjoying most was the fact that both of them were together. They were perfectly content as long as they had their friends – and each other.

"They look so happy together," Suki said.

"Yeah," Sokka looked out at his sister and friend with a hint of a smile. "Don't you think so, Toph – " he broke off, with a small glance in Toph's direction. "Sorry."

"Well, I would say the same," Toph started, causing Sokka to flinch a little in embarrassment, "but they sure sound happy."

However their happiness was short lived as, without warning, a large creature rose out of the water. It looked like a cross between the unagi and the giant serpent from the Serpent's Pass. It let out a roar and smashed it's tail against the water, knocking Aang and Katara off of their ice surfboard.

Sokka and Suki gasped in horror as the monster advanced on their companions.

"What's going on?" Toph asked, since she couldn't see the large sea monster that was attacking her friends.

"Aang and Katara are being attacked by this giant sea thing!" Sokka stammered.

"I'll call Appa!" Suki told him, frantically searching for Aang's bison whistle.

Aang and Katara both called out to each other as they were separated, both sent flying into the air. They used their bending in an effort to get back to each other, but the giant monster intervened. Glaring, it raised its tail once more, which the two could see was now tipped with an arrow-like edge – and it was aiming straight for Katara.

"KATARA, NO!" Aang shouted in horror. Using all the airbending and waterbending power he could muster, he formed a giant air ball which slammed into the monster, while at the same time he pushed Katara out of the path of the monster's arrowhead-like tail. Unfortunately, as the monster was blown into the far ocean, the point of its tail struck Aang, slamming him into the water.

Katara burst out of the water, gasping for breath. "Aang?" She looked around and saw him floating limply in the water, a large gash in his arm. "Aang!"

"What happened?" Sokka suddenly asked from above them. He, Suki, and Toph were directly above Katara and Aang, riding on Appa, along with Hawky and Momo.

"Aang's hurt!" Katara explained, holding onto her friend tightly. "He saved me from that monster but got stabbed by its tail!"

"Climb up," Sokka said, stretching out his hand to his sister and Aang.

Once everyone was on Appa, Katara gently placed Aang onto the saddle. She grew quiet as she heard Aang softly speak.

"Katara…I – " Aang suddenly stopped midsentence, as his eyes closed and his body fell still.

Katara's eyes widened, trying to get Aang to wake up, but failing. "He's unconscious," she said with immediate unease.

"And that gash on his arm looks pretty nasty too," Sokka said. What unsettled the group most about it was that it seemed to have some sort of hazy blackness scattered over parts of the wound.

Katara attempted to use her healing abilities to heal it, but it didn't work. If anything, the blackness seemed to get a little bigger.

"Did your healing work?" Toph asked.

Katara shook her head before remembering Toph couldn't see it. "No." She shuddered a little; something about that hazy stuff was making her anxious.

"This is serious," Suki said without hesitation. "We don't know what that monster was or what that black substance is. We need to get Aang to the nearest place where someone can explain this and heal him."

"Maybe Zuko would know something," Sokka advised. "He's the Fire Lord, he should know all about the creatures around here." He thought another moment. "Mai or Ty Lee might know something too. I mean, Ty Lee does know all those chi-blocking moves. Maybe she knows a thing or two about healing."

"I suppose it's our best bet," Katara said softly. "It's close to here."

As the group directed Appa toward the Fire Nation capital, Katara gently squeezed Aang's hand and looked at him with a mixture of love and distress.

"You're going to be okay, Aang," she whispered to her unconscious friend. Then in a softer, more concerned voice, she whispered, "Please be okay."

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**A/N: Uh oh, this doesn't look good! Something's happened to Aang, but what exactly is with that black stuff anyway? Stay tuned for the next chapter! Kataang forever!**


	2. What Is Wrong With Aang?

A/N: Hello again! Thanks for the reviews! Just to let you know, I've decided that I might also use the credits song from the Legend of Spyro: Eternal Night game (the first of the trilogy doesn't have a credits song). I don't know when in the story I'll use it, but the song is called "This Broken Soul". Now, you guys are probably wondering exactly what is going on with Aang, so I won't keep you waiting! On with the fic!

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After what was only less than an hour, but what seemed like days to the Gaang, they arrived at the Fire Nation capital. Fire Nation palace guards were stationed around the palace, but they moved a little when they noticed the flying bison.

"It's the Avatar and his friends," one of them said. He waved them down and Appa landed by him.

"We need to speak with Fire Lord Zuko!" Sokka said in gasping breaths. "It's urgent!" The Gaang jumped off of Appa, with Katara carrying the injured Avatar.

The guard gasped as soon as he saw the gash in Aang's arm, and the haze that covered it. "What happened?"

"We aren't exactly sure," Suki said in a rush. "This monster attacked him back at Ember Island – "

"Come with me," the guard said quickly, realizing this was indeed serious. "The Fire Lord needs to know about this."

The guard hurriedly led the Gaang into the Fire Nation palace. Katara walked a little more slowly; she didn't want to risk anything else happening to Aang. They seemed to go down at least ten long hallways before they finally reached the door to the throne room.

"Fire Lord Zuko?" the guard called, "you have visitors. It's the Avatar and his friends."

"Thank you, Kaji," the familiar voice of Fire Lord Zuko said from behind the door. As Kaji left, a few seconds later the door opened to reveal their friend with a happy expression on his face. However, the expression vanished as soon as he saw Aang, quickly replaced by a look of panic.

"No!" Zuko said that one word in a choked whisper, but everyone heard it.

"You know what this is?" Katara asked as she gently set Aang on the ground, hoping that he would somehow wake up soon.

Zuko nodded. "If I'm right, this is what my Uncle was just warning me about the other day..." He kneeled down beside his unconscious friend, staring with worry at the gash in Aang's arm. After a few moments, he turned to the group. "What exactly happened?"

It was Sokka who answered that. "We were vacationing on Ember Island, and Aang and Katara were swimming."

"And then this huge sea monster rose out of the water," Toph added.

"Aang was trying to protect me!" Katara finally spoke out. "He pushed me out of the way, and he got stabbed with its tail!" Everyone could see that there were tears forming in her eyes as she tightly held Aang.

Zuko reassuringly placed his hand on Katara's shoulder. "And that was where he got that gash?"

"Yeah," Suki said, "and that's where the black haze came from."

"We were hoping that you could tell us what it is," Sokka concluded.

"Tell you what what is?" another voice said.

The group looked behind them and noticed Mai, Ty Lee, and Iroh were behind them. Ty Lee had been the one who had asked the question.

"Aang's hurt," Zuko explained, gesturing to the gash on his friend's arm. The black haziness appeared to have grown.

Iroh took one horrified look at Aang's injury and gasped. "It was an aneidoku that did this," he said gravely.

"A what?" everyone else asked, excluding Zuko.

"An aneiduko," Iroh began, "is a terrible monster. It isn't seen that often, but it can destroy a ship within seconds. What it is most feared for, however," Iroh took a deep breath, looking at everyone with a gaze that made them all uneasy, "is its poison tail."

"Poison?!" Suki gasped.

Katara, horrified, looked desperately at her boyfriend and held him tightly, hoping that her presence would somehow help wake him up. "Aang, please! Wake up!" she called to him with her mind.

"Yes," Iroh said slowly. "The poison that the aneiduko injects forms as a black haze – "

Everyone's shocked gaze glanced toward the gash on Aang's arm.

" – that flows through the bloodstream of its target," Iroh continued. "The victim starts to see hallucinations, and its strength is slowly drained away. Soon they are unable to tell whether they are asleep or awake, and they may not recognize even the ones they are closest to. As the poison spreads, their strength decreases and the symptoms get worse."

Katara was clutching Aang so tightly now that she was afraid she might be cutting off his circulation. "Please, no," she whispered softly, tears falling from her eyes.

"What exactly are you saying?" Toph asked, hoping that it wasn't what they all feared it meant.

Iroh seemed to be silent for a long time, and every moment made the Gaang all the more worried. Finally, he took a deep breath and looked at them all with sorrowful eyes.

"Aang is dying."

That was too much for Katara to hear, and the tears spilled out of her eyes, holding Aang like she never wanted to let go of him.

"It's my fault!" she cried. "I convinced Aang to go into the water! This happened because he tried to save me, and after I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to him!" She looked at her boyfriend, helplessly crying. "I promised," she whispered.

Slowly, Aang's eyes flickered open. He reached for Katara's hand, and his hand was clasped in hers.

"Katara," Aang sat up a little to embrace her in a hug. "What's wrong?" His voice seemed shaky.

"You're – " Sokka started to answer, but he didn't want Aang to have to deal with the emotional turmoil just yet. He needed to ask Iroh something, something that allowed him to cling on to a shred of hope. "What's the cure?!" he said it in a pleading voice, voicing the fear that everyone felt for Aang's life.

Mai hesitantly answered. "There is none."

Everyone's heart skipped a beat; Katara's and Aang's skipped at least two.

"Mai," Ty Lee said with a nervous look, "please tell us that's not true! It can't be true!"

"Mai's telling the truth," Toph said solemnly. "I can tell." She could tell that Mai really was telling the truth of what she knew. It a circumstance like this, she desperately wished that Mai were lying.

"But there has to be a cure!" Sokka looked from Mai to Aang. "We can't let him die!"

"Die?" Aang suddenly realized what was going on. He held on to Katara, looking deeply into her tear-stricken eyes. "This has to be a dream…a nightmare."

"I'm afraid it's not," Iroh said with a sigh. He closed his eyes and turned away, not willing to say anything more.

"But, Ty Lee," Suki swallowed hard, trying to grasp what was going on, "you know those chi-blocking moves! We thought maybe you'd know a way how to heal Aang."

"I'm sorry, Suki," Ty Lee said in distress, "I know a lot, but I'm not a healer." He her head suddenly shot up. "Katara…you can use your healing to – "

"Don't you think I've already tried that?!" Katara snapped. The outburst caused Ty Lee to flinch, but Katara couldn't help it. She was torn by the fact that she couldn't help the one person she loved most. "When I tried to heal him, it just seemed to make things worse!" Sobbing, she embraced the young airbender that she had come to love, heartbroken.

Aang cried too as he hugged Katara. He couldn't stand to see her this sad…and it pained him to know that he was the cause for her sadness. In addition to his guilt, he felt fear – a fear that, if he died, Katara wouldn't be able to handle it. Aang already couldn't handle the fact that he might leave Katara. He felt terrible, though he wasn't sure if the pain he felt in his body was from the poison or from heartache…or both.

"Uncle," Zuko started. He was hesitant to ask, but he needed to know. "How long do you think – ?"

"I don't know, Zuko," Iroh said quietly. "I believe a month at most."

A month. The Gaang felt a cold chill pass over them. They had only about a month before their friend was lost to them forever. All of them kneeled down beside Aang, trying to comfort him…and themselves. This proved to be extremely difficult, as everyone was horrified from the news, struggling to keep themselves from crying.

But none of the other's grief matched Katara's and Aang's. The two had been through so much together, and the thought that they would be torn apart from each other was too much to bear.

"I'm sorry Aang," Katara said through her sobs. "I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you! And now…" She was too terrified of losing Aang to say what he knew she was thinking.

"Katara," Aang said gently, sitting up a little, "I made a promise back there too, remember?" He tried to stop crying, though it was impossible for him, with Katara crying as well.

Katara struggled to nod, fearing that if she let Aang go, he would disappear before her eyes.

"I promised that I would stay with you," Aang placed his hand on Katara's cheek, feeling the same way that she did, "and I'm going to keep that promise for as long as I can."

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A/N: Oh no! That monster thingy poisoned Aang and now he's practically dying! I know, there was quite a bit of Kataangst in this chapter. On a slightly happier note, I'm finally going to get Dawn of the Dragon (yay for 1 day early Christmas presents!), so I might get another idea or two from that, because Spyro is awesome, that's why! So if I don't update for a few days, it could be because 1. I have writers block, or 2. I'm busy playing Spyro!...or doing something else! See you next chapter! Read and review!


	3. Hallucination

A/N: I know that I've kept you guys waiting about 3 days, but wait no longer! I know that last chapter was a worrying one, since we learned that Aang is dying from the aneidoku's poison. By the way, I forgot to mention this last chapter, but Kaji (the name of the Fire Nation guard who let the Gaang in) means "fire" in Japanese, and the word aneidoku is a combination of two words in Japanese, basically meaning "black poison". Anyway, no more waiting, on with the fic!

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About a day had passed, and the Gaang felt like they were unable to get back to the happy, excited state they had been in back at the beach. The news that Aang was poisoned and there was no cure for it had crushed all of their hearts. Especially Katara's.

The fifteen-year-old waterbender was sitting outside on a balcony with Aang. She glanced dejectedly at her friend, who now had a bandage wrapped around the part of his left arm that had been struck by the aneidoku's tail. As Katara made a quick glance at it, she shuddered, remembering what had happened. And when she tried to heal the young Avatar, it only made things worse. For the first time in her life, Katara was afraid to use her healing abilities.

Aang held Katara's hand, trying to at least manage a small smile. At least I can spend whatever time I have left with my friends…with Katara, he thought to himself. He looked to their left, where Sokka was sitting in a chair, writing,

"How's the letter coming, Sokka?" Katara asked her brother, knowing why he was writing it. While Zuko, Iroh, Toph, Mai, and Ty Lee were trying to find information in the palace library, Sokka was composing a letter to Master Pakku, who had become their grandfather around the time that Sozin's Comet arrived. They knew that he had returned to the North Pole, at least for a short time, which was good news for the Gaang. They knew that there was one thing there that just might save Aang's life.

"I'm just about done," Sokka replied, finishing the last word. He read over what he had written.

Dear Master Pakku,

I'm writing to you from the Fire Nation capital. Aang was stabbed by a sea monster known as an aneidoku, and Zuko's Uncle Iroh says he has only about another month left to live. You know very well how important Aang is to us; he's our friend, not to mention Katara's love. We know that you have returned to the North Pole, and we know that the water from the Spirit Oasis has strong healing properties. As far as we know, there's no cure for the poison, and if there's anything that can heal Aang, it's that water. Please send a reply back as soon as possible. I'm worried for Aang…we all are.

Sokka.

Despite their worry, Katara and Aang felt a little hope from that letter. Sokka was right; that water had wondrous healing abilities. When Aang had nearly died in the battle with Azula, Katara had used the Spirit Oasis water to revive him.

"Come on, Hawky," Sokka said encouragingly as he put a rope around the letter. "We're counting on you!"

But as Sokka tied the letter to Hawky's foot, sending the messenger hawk out, Katara had a sudden thought, and turned away.

"Katara?" Aang noticed that something new was bothering his girlfriend. "What is it?"

Katara took a deep breath before turning back to Aang. "When I tried to heal you before, it only seemed to make that black haziness on your wound grow. What if the Spirit Water makes things even worse?"

"I'm sure it won't," Aang said, though both Katara and Sokka could tell from his expression and tone that he wasn't sure at all.

"Well, for now it's our best bet," Sokka admitted with a sigh.

"Hey," Aang spoke, "let's see how the others are doing. Maybe they've found something that can help." He and his friends stood up, heading in the direction of the library.

"Aang, Katara, and Sokka are here," the trio heard Toph say before they even entered the library.

"How did you - ?" Sokka started to ask as they entered, before remembering that Toph could sense their vibrations. "Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Did you guys find anything?" Aang asked them. Katara become concerned when she noticed that, despite his hopeful words, Aang's voice seemed somewhat faded.

Zuko shook his head. "We haven't been able to find anything so far." He sighed.

"Are you okay, Aang?" Suki asked. She too had noticed the faded tone in the airbender's voice.

Aang suddenly felt unsteady. "I…I think…I…" Aang seemed to be struggling to talk. He wasn't sure what was going on. The world seemed to be spinning; he felt dizzy.

"Aang?" Sokka instantly knew something was wrong. His friend sunk to the ground, his eyes closed.

"Aang!" Katara instantly kneeled down beside her love, who was holding his head in his hands, shaking.

"Uncle," Zuko realized that Aang was being tormented by something. "What's going on?"

"I think he might be having a sort of hallucination." Iroh answered his nephew.

The moment he said that, everyone was startled by a sudden scream from Aang. He was still sitting down but he had his hands over his ears now. "No…please…don't…" The airbender seemed to be muttering to someone or something none of the others could see, as they realized Aang must be speaking to someone in his vision. Without warning, his eyes opened, but they looked as if they were seeing something beyond them, not really looking at his friends and yet looking at them all the same.

"NO!" Aang shouted with such force that the group was blown back a little. It was an outburst that seemed to be of anger and grief. He seemed to create a small, growing gust of wind, still screaming. "NO!"

"Aang, please!" Katara called out to him. She could tell that something was desperately wrong with him. Katara came toward Aang to try to calm him down, even with the strong wind around that was now threatening to blow the books off their shelves.

"KATARA!" Aang shouted, turning quickly from side to side, finally looking in her direction. However, he wasn't really looking at her. He still had that distant look in his eyes as he screamed, though his gaze, much like his voice, was full of fear. "KATARA! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"I'm here, Aang," Katara said softly, reaching for his hand, grasping it tightly.

The tormented airbender still screamed, his eyes and tattoos now glowing with a faint white light, as if he were slipping into the Avatar State. "YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME! I PROMISED I'D STAY!" He seemed to look around frantically before he turned to Katara with a wild gaze. A bit of focus slowly seemed to come back into his eyes as he looked at her, though his eyes were still out of complete focus. He embraced her tightly, still partly in his hallucination, creating a small vortex. "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" the terrified Avatar shouted, "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

The group watched as the vortex slowly dissipated, Aang's tattoos and eyes slowly turning back to normal. His grip on Katara lessened only slightly, but he was still shaking. "It's not my fault," Aang whispered quietly, in a voice that only Katara could hear. Tears streamed from his closed eyes.

"Is his hallucination over?" Ty Lee asked warily, a little scared by what she had just witnessed.

"I think so," Iroh said, a look of concern flashing on his face. He looked toward Aang who, upon slowly recovering from the nightmarish occurrence, gave a weakened but affirmative nod.

The group, no longer at risk of being blown by a vortex, moved closer now to get a look at their friend's condition. Aang seemed so unsteady that his legs were shaking as he slowly stood up with Katara's help. In addition to that, he had broken out in a cold sweat.

"That was…scary," Suki remarked, in an effort to describe the turmoil of the scene she had just witnessed.

"Are the hallucinations always that bad?" Sokka asked in shock.

Iroh shook his head. "No. Normally the hallucinations only have that intensity when the victim is in its last days."

"It seemed pretty bad from where I was standing," Toph said.

"And it's only going to get worse," Zuko added gravely, a nervous shudder in his voice.

"If it was that bad this time," Iroh continued hesitantly, "then I fear what might happen as time goes on."

Katara and Aang both felt a cold shiver as they heard those words, but Katara's attention immediately turned to her love. "Aang," she said slowly, attempting to stay calm, "what did you see?"

The young Avatar turned his gaze downward, unsure of what to say. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I wouldn't want to talk about it right away either," Ty Lee sympathized. "If it looked that bad from our point of view, then…" Ty Lee couldn't imagine how tormented Aang felt by his hallucination.

Aang placed his hand on Katara's shoulder. "I'll tell you later," he whispered, his voice shaking as he looked into Katara's bright blue eyes.

Katara nodded in understanding, hugging him. "That's okay, Aang. You know I'd do anything for you."

Aang gratefully returned the hug, but while his emotions radiated love for Katara, he struggled not to think about what he had seen in his hallucination. And it was even harder to shove it from his mind due to that last sentence Katara had said. You say that you'd do anything foe me, Katara, Aang thought, but I won't be able to take it if you get hurt for my sake…because if you do… Aang couldn't finish the thought – it was too painful for him.

"I promised that I would stay with you," Aang remembered saying to Katara a short time ago. But, as he thought of what he had just experienced, he felt a terrible pain at his heart. He looked at Katara and felt a need to say one thing to her out loud, because all his thoughts were tormented by his vision.

"I'd do anything for you too, Katara. Anything."

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A/N: Oh great! If the hallucinations keep getting worse, and that was just the first one, then Aang's in trouble! Yeah, I know I left you at a cliffhanger in this chapter, and you're probably wondering what happened with Aang. In case you're wondering, I left out the details of Aang's hallucination on purpose. We do learn about what Aang saw in it later, but I wanted to keep you guessing! See you next chapter! Read and review!


	4. Aang's Explaination

A/N: Wow, thanks for all the reviews, guys! And to answer your question, the reason why they aren't flying straight to the North Pole is because they're hoping to somehow find a cure in the Fire Nation library, just in case what Katara fears happens. Since it would takes about a week to get to the North Pole flying on Appa, the Gang knows that they'd lose that amount of time to look for a cure while flying to the North Pole, and if the Spirit Water didn't work, another week to fly back. That would give them only about two weeks to look for another cure – maybe less if Katara's fears were realized. I probably should've explained that last chapter. Anyway, here's the next chapter!

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_"Why does time have to be so cruel?"_ Katara thought. Upon hearing the news of Aang's condition, the Gaang had wanted each day to last as long as possible. However, that only seemed to make the days go by faster.

To everyone's dismay, Aang was no longer the happy Avatar that they had come to know and love. While he tried to keep his carefree attitude, Aang seemed to often have a nervous look on his face, and sometimes he would have that sudden dazed look in his eyes and mutter to himself before returning to normal. Iroh explained that Aang was probably having small flashes of hallucinations. However, Aang always attempted to stay cheerful around Katara, but it wasn't easy.

"I don't want you to worry about me, Katara," Aang would say, managing a smile, "I'll be fine." But everyone knew that he was just lying to himself.

"When is he going to stop having those freaky hallucinations?" Mai asked. "It's driving me crazy!"

"When we find a cure! Sokka said firmly, not daring to even think about the other possibility.

"Where is he, anyway?" Ty Lee asked, aiding Sokka in leafing though a book of herbs and treatments that Iroh had found. They had read about cures for sea serpent bites and unagi strikes, but nothing to cure the poison that the aneidoku had injected into their friend.

"I think he said he was going to sleep," Zuko explained.

"No surprise," Mai said simply, "it's almost midnight."

"He didn't seem very tired though," Suki said, concern etched in her voice. "He seemed a little…" she paused, "afraid."

"I'll go check up on him," Katara immediately offered. She had noticed it too, and the mere thought that her friend was afraid sent off a small warning bell in her mind. She had a strong suspicion that it was that first vision that was bothering him, since the others seemed to be stemming off of it. No matter what, she had to know what it was.

"Aang?" Katara said softly as she crept into the room where the young Avatar slept.

"I'm awake," Aang said quietly, sitting on the end of the bed, resting his head on his arms. He looked at Katara, his grey eyes clouded with worry.

Before Katara could say anything, the young airbender motioned next to him, offering her a place to sit down on the bed. "I want to talk to you."

Katara sat down next to the one whom she loved, putting her arm around his shoulders. "It's about your hallucination, isn't it?"

The Avatar dully inclined his head. "I need to tell you about it." He sighed, contemplating where to begin. "It seemed like I was in the library at first, and then I was suddenly at the beach on Ember Island, just like we were a few days ago. Then everything suddenly turned into a hazy darkness, but the two of us were still swimming in the water. And then…" he shuddered

"The aneidoku came, didn't it?" Katara asked. She held her boyfriend's hand in an attempt to comfort him. It was a terrible memory for both of them.

Aang nodded. "Yeah, it came out of the water just like before…but it didn't hit me. It hit you." Aang seemed to struggle to continue. "I didn't come in time! You took the hit for me, Katara…and then, I couldn't see you anymore, just the darkness."

"That was why you were screaming my name, right?"

"Yeah," Aang confirmed. "I kept calling, but I couldn't find you. Suddenly, you appeared, but there were these beings around you. I'm not sure who they were, but they had you captive with bright orange things like chains. Then…" the young airbender took a deep breath, forcing himself to go on, "they were shocking you, and you started fading!" He broke off and looked at Katara, who could see that his normally bright, clear eyes were darkened. "I felt so enraged, Katara…I love you, and those beings were hurting you!" He trembled in anger from the memory. "They were_ torturing_ you!"

"Oh, Aang," Katara whispered in shock, feeling a need to comfort him in order to ease his pain.

"I kept screaming to those beings that I wouldn't let you be taken from me, and I tried to reach you, but I couldn't!" Aang's eyes were now darkened with shame. "They kept telling me that it was my fault that you were disappearing, and I kept protesting that it wasn't…"

"It wasn't your fault Aang," Katara said reassuringly, embracing her love tightly.

Aang looked into her eyes in a silent expression of gratitude, then, with difficulty, continued his story. "And then you…you…" Aang swallowed, knowing he needed to continue, "you faded away completely." Tears were forming in his eyes now as he gazed into Katara's. "The next thing I knew, I was back in the library, and you were there right next to me."

"Aang…I'm so sorry you had to go through all that," Katara whispered with regret. "Don't blame yourself."

"I know." Aang paused for a minute; there was something that he knew he had to say, something that only could, for now, be heard by the one he loved most. "I'm afraid, Katara," Aang admitted, the tears now starting to fall from his eyes. "I'm afraid for you."

Katara gently brushed the tears from his eyes. "Don't be," she whispered. She lightly kissed him on the lips.

Aang smiled slightly. Even that small kiss made him feel a little more hopeful, a little less afraid. "I don't want to be torn apart from you, Katara," Aang whispered, looking up at her. "I love you. I would die for you if I had to."

Katara nodded in agreement, hugging the airbender even tighter. "Me too, Aang."

But despite the contentedness that Aang felt there in Katara's arms, he couldn't stop a cold shiver running down his spine, having a vivid, horrifying flash of his hallucination. "_That's what I'm afraid of."_

----

A/N: Whew, finally finished the chapter! I know, quite a bit of Kataang fluff/angst in this chapter. I'll try to get the next one up as soon as I can! Remember to review!


	5. Night Terror

A/N: Okay, I know that it's been awhile since I updated, but life kind of caught up to me, so I was busy for awhile! Anyway, before I go on with the fic, I have an announcement! The song that this fic is based on, "Guide You Home (I Would Die For You)" from Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon is now on iTunes! So now you guys can hear and get the song for yourselves! Anyway, now I can go on with the fic!

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Aang's vision was blurred. He could barely see his surroundings clearly before they slowly came into focus. It seemed like he was in a room – a white room with glass-like walls – or they felt like glass anyway.

He knew he was dreaming, but it felt as real as anything. He could feel the floor under his feet, and it was cold here, very cold. The Avatar shivered, trying to find some way to get warm.

Then Aang realized something else: he was alone.

"Hello?" he called out, but the only sound that answered back was his own voice. "Sokka? Zuko? Toph? Katara?"

The moment he called out Katara's name, one wall of the room seemed to shimmer, and it slowly began to look like glass, becoming slightly transparent. And as it changed, Aang could also faintly hear a voice calling his name…Katara's voice.

"Katara?" Aang called out, touching the shimmering white wall. Suddenly, almost instantly as he touched it, he saw Katara, and he cried out in shock. Katara was hurt – badly. Both her arms and legs were bleeding, and she was deathly pale, barely able to stand up.

"KATARA!" Aang screamed, trying to find any way he could to get to her. He couldn't bend metal, like Toph, so earthbending was out of the possibilities. Nor could he waterbend; there was no water around. He gently placed his hand against the glass wall that separated them, and Katara did the same. He was somehow hoping that the glass would just fade away, and he could reach her, but nothing happened.

"Stand back, Katara," Aang instructed softly. He was going to try both firebending an airbending, and he didn't want Katara to get hurt by his actions, especially in the terrible state she was in right now. With a difficulty that broke Aang's heart to watch, Katara moved away from the glass wall.

The panicked airbender used both airbending and firebending on the glass wall, but instantly stopped when he saw what he had done. The wall seemed to heat up, and though Katara was a few feet away, she was shocked with what looked like lightening, crying out in pain.

"NO!" Aang cried out. He ran over to the glass wall again, trying to will it to dissolve. He attempted to transfer the pain that Katara was feeling to himself, and it seemed to be working as he felt himself getting shocked slightly as well. "I won't break my promise, Katara!" he called through the glass, feeling the pain that she was feeling. "I'll never leave you!"

"I know, Aang," Katara said quietly, suddenly beginning to fade as she did in his hallucinations. "And I promised that you'd be alright…that you'd be okay."

Suddenly, Aang felt a terrible sensation. It was as if the very air was being sucked right out of the room. Frantic, he looked over at Katara, and saw that she felt it too. As he felt this happening, he knew that Katara and him were both experiencing the same thing – they couldn't breathe. It was as if all the air was being sucked from them.

His eyes widened in horror as he continued to look at Katara, noticing that, in addition to her fading, a black haze that looked very much like the poison of the aneidoku was swirling around her, seeming to make her fade even faster. He looked down at his arm, unbandaged in the dream, covered by the black poison, realizing that the poison seemed to be lifting away from his arm and swirling toward Katara. The pain from the lightening was also starting to leave from him.

"NO!" Aang cried, he eyes filling with tears. He still tried with all his might to reach her, but he was unable to focus with the air being sucked away. And even that was beginning to lessen.

"Aang," he heard Katara's voice say faintly, stronger than it had been before, "wake up!"

With a jolt, Aang opened his eyes, gasping for breath, feeling weakened by both his dream and the poison. He saw Katara directly in front of him, with a concerned look on her face. Katara had offered to sleep on the floor beside Aang's bed during the night, in order to comfort him should anything happen, and the airbender noticed that it was still the middle of the night. He was so relieved to see Katara perfectly alright that he automatically sat up from the bed and gripped her tightly, crying and shivering.

"You're okay," he whispered to the waterbender, "you're not hurt anymore!"

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" Katara asked him. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest, he was embracing her so tightly

Aang looked at her, and nodded.

"Was it the hallucination again?" Katara looked into Aang's stormy grey eyes, trying to read his emotions. And the one that stood out most was terror.

The young Avatar shook his head. "It was worse."

"What happened?"

Attempting to calm himself down, Aang recounted every detail of the dream – from white room to Katara's terrible state. "I didn't see any other rooms in the place, only the rooms we were in," he concluded. He trembled. "I hate these dreams! Every single one involves you being hurt in some way! And it just gets worse!"

Katara gently stroked his cheek. "But remember Aang…those dreams aren't real."

Aang looked downward slightly. "They sure seem real. Part of me wasn't even sure whether I was awake or asleep."

Katara remembered what Iroh had said about that being an effect as the poison got worse, but she tried to push that unsettling thought aside. "And no matter what, in those dreams, you always kept your promise. You didn't leave me." The waterbender smiled slightly at her boyfriend. "And you never got hurt, so I kept mine." She frowned. "Except the last part."

"Yeah," Aang said quietly. "that really scared me…we couldn't breathe. But what scared me the most was the fact that you were hurt, Katara. And…that hazy blackness…" he looked cautiously where his wound was, still bandaged from the poison. "It was almost as if…you…" he fell silent, not daring to finish his sentence. "You were trying to protect me…to take away my pain."

"Of course I was," Katara said gently, hugging him, "you know that I'd do that for you if you needed me."

"I guess Sokka's right when he says that you can be a little motherly." Aang smiled, a little calmer now as he looked into Katara's crystal-blue eyes.

Katara laughed a little. "I would just say that I'm protective of the ones I love." She looked at the Avatar with a knowing smile. "Especially you, Aang." She stood up from the bed and lay back down on the floor, where Aang saw she had a blanket and pillow so she could be near him if she was needed…such as comforting him from nightmares like the one he just had. "We should try to get back to sleep, Aang. It's still early."

"I suppose you're right," Aang admitted, trying to get comfortable again. "Good night, Katara."

"Good night, Aang."

Within a few minutes, the two were somewhat asleep, but still slightly awake. They had absolutely no time to react, however, when a group of people suddenly came around them, using large bricks to knock them unconscious. Without making another sound, the intruders left a small paper on the bed, picked up the unconscious benders, and snuck out of the room through the window. They were gone almost as quickly as they had come.

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The next morning, it seemed to be business as usual, with Sokka up after quite a bit of prompting from Toph. Sokka quickly ran toward Aang's room. "Aang! Katara! Wake up, we need to keep looking for a – "

Sokka stopped mid-sentence, noticing that Aang and Katara were gone. He was just about to shrug it off and assume the two lovebirds went out for a morning walk, until he saw the note. He read it quickly and gasped. "Oh no!" He ran down the hall, searching frantically for Zuko, closely followed by Toph.

"Zuko!" Sokka exclaimed as he finally located the Fire Lord, reading a scroll he had just gotten from a messenger hawk. Sokka quickly showed Zuko the note.

Zuko quickly scanned over it. "Abandon all hope of seeing your friends again."

"What happened?" Ty Lee asked, walking into the room, curious about all the noise. She was followed by Mai and Iroh.

"Yes, what exactly is going on?" Iroh questioned with concern.

"Someone kidnapped Sugar Queen and Twinkletoes!" Toph said.

Zuko's eyes widened, looking from the note to the scroll he had been reading. "I think I know who kidnapped them."

"Who?!" Sokka asked automatically. If Zuko had any idea of who had kidnapped his sister and Aang, it would at least give them a lead on who to look for.

"I just got this scroll from the Fire Nation prison…and one of the prisoners escaped." Zuko had a nervous shudder in his voice.

"No," Iroh said at once, "it can't be!"

"Well, Sokka said hurriedly, "who was it?"

Zuko looked at all of them, finally gazing down at the scroll again.

"Azula."

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Dun, dun DUN! Aang has another freaky and disturbing vision, and now Azula's back into the picture! I know, I'm so evil! I'll really try to update faster, since I won't be as busy anymore. Read and review!


	6. Kidnapped into Nightmares

A/N: Hello again, everyone! Welcome to the 6th chapter of my fic! Oh, and as a quick announcement…a friend of mine from Neopets named Jun is officially now my co-writer! As such, I will now officially be using some (if not all) of the ideas that we have swapped around together! Anyway, enough chit-chat, on with the fic!

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"Azula did what?!" Suki cried out, having just entered the room, wide-eyed.

"Apparently she kidnapped Aang and his girlfriend in the middle of the night," Mai said as if that wasn't unexpected. And, knowing Azula, for her to do something like this wasn't too unusual.

Sokka looked so angry that he could've thrown his boomerang and make it hit everyone three times over. "I can't believe this! Azula escaped from prison and kidnapped Aang and Katara from right underneath our noses! And we didn't even see or hear anyone!"

"We'll find them, Sokka," Suki said as she placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down a little.

"She can't have gotten that far," Ty Lee pointed out. "She doesn't exactly have a furry flying bison, does she?"

"Therefore, she must be somewhere in the Fire Nation," Iroh suggested. "Somewhere nearby."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Toph insisted, starting to run out of the room. "Let's find Twinkletoes and Sugar Queen and have some payback time!" She went over to a low wall near the front of the palace and blasted it away, gesturing for the others to follow. "Well, come on, you slowpokes! Let's get moving!"

Zuko looked at Sokka, who was staring at the new hole in the wall. "She does know she'll have to pay for that, right?"

Sokka shrugged.

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"Owww, my head," Aang mumbled to himself, barely conscious. "What happened?" The Avatar was not entirely sure of where he was. All he knew at the moment was that his head was pounding, as if he had been hit with a brick.

"Oh yeah," he remembered, "I was hit with a brick." Suddenly, Aang's eyes snapped open, realizing where he was. He was in a white room…the room from his nightmares!

"Oh no," Aang said, beginning to panic. "No, no, no! Please don't let this be real!" He pinched himself in the hope of find out he was dreaming. His unease only increased when he realized he was awake. Confused, but awake.

And then he remembered that, in his nightmares, Katara had been hurt…and she had been knocked unconscious along with him. What if, in his nightmare-become-real, she was hurt as well, and he hadn't been there to protect her? Aang instantly sat upright. "Katara!"

"I'm right here, Aang."

The young airbender swirled his head to the left to find Katara about a foot or so away from him. She quickly came over and sat down next to him.

Aang's eyes instantly filled with relief. "I'm sorry…that blow to my head must have made it hurt so much that I didn't see or hear you." His eyes then grew concerned. "How long was I out?"

Katara thought for a minute. "I only just came out of it about 10 minutes ago. You seemed a little delirious, Aang…you called out my name several times."

"I did?"

The waterbender nodded. "It might have been partially because of the…" She trailed off, knowing that Aang knew what she meant.

Aang slowly nodded, getting her meaning loud and clear. And upon thinking that, the relieved look in his eyes was replaced by a twinge of fear.

"Katara," he began, looking serious, "this is the place…that white room – "

"The one from your nightmares?" Katara inquired, placing her hand on Aang's. She needed no vocal confirmation from the young Avatar, however; the look he gave her said it all.

Aang nodded anyway, standing up slowly due to the fact that his head was still spinning. "Come, on, Katara, let's get out of here! I'm not letting my nightmares become real!"

"Too late for that, Avatar!" a voice said.

Aang's and Katara's blood ran cold. They knew that voice…a voice they had hoped to never hear again. They turned to see a tall teenage girl, with black hair and golden eyes, smirking at them from behind a glass wall, with a group of other people surrounding her.

"Azula!" Aang gasped in shock, holding Katara's hand tightly.

"You're the one who kidnapped us?" Katara demanded angrily.

Azula smirked. "Well, the Dai Li here knocked you two unconscious and helped bring you here, but I did plan it all in the first place." Her smile grew wider. "So, in a way, yes. I did kidnap you."

"Why?" Aang questioned, glaring at his enemy.

Azula laughed aloud. "You're the Avatar! Isn't it obvious?"

Aang's stern expression didn't waver. "No, I mean why did you bring Katara into this?"

Azula grinned evily. "Oh, you mean your little girlfriend there?"

Before Aang could react, she sent a blast of blue fire in their direction, and Aang immediately jumped up to protect Katara.

The firebender's golden eyes narrowed, her smile growing even wider. "Naive little Avatar. I didn't send that fire blast even close to the glass wall that separates us, but I see that it frightened you anyway, like the foolish little boy that you are."

"Aang's not the foolish one Azula!" Katara exclaimed. "You are!"

Azula's eyes carried an expression that made the two feel rooted to the spot. "Me? Foolish? Your little boyfriend here jumped to the rescue to try to save you. Just like when you were attacked by my aneidoku!"

Aang's eyes narrowed, fury radiating in them. He couldn't believe what he was just hearing. "THAT WAS YOUR ANEIDOKU?!" he shouted.

"Of course," Azula confirmed. "Of course, the Dai Li actually sent it after you." She glanced at Aang's bandaged arm. "I was planning to have it pierce your little girlfriend's heart out to plunge you into despair, but, you know, I kind of like this better!"

Katara was horrified. "Azula was trying to kill me?" Katara thought in fear. She realized right then that the aneidoku nearly piercing her heart was no act of chance.

But Aang wasn't just horrified…he was furious. His eyes and tattoos instantly began to glow, air swirling around him in a large vortex. He had slipped into the Avatar State.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO KILL KATARA!" Aang shouted in the multiple voices of his past lives, the previous Avatars. Enraged, he hurled a large air blast at the glass wall. However, his fury had caused him to forget what had happened in his nightmare. The energy of the air blast seemed to be absorbed into the wall, and Katara let out a cry of pain.

Instantly, Aang came out of the Avatar State and ran over to Katara, who was now on the ground. The waterbender clutched her left leg in pain, which Aang could see was now bleeding.

"Nice try, Avatar." Azula snickered, her voice laced with a cold insanity that sent a shiver down Aang and Katara's spines. "The Dai Li and I created a mechanism. Whatever you do to break out will hurt your precious little girlfriend there."

With an insane laugh, she started to leave their sight. However, she turned back once, staring at Aang and Katara's horrified expressions.

"I would be careful about escaping, Avatar, if I were you," Azula whispered coldly at Aang, as the Dai Li used their earthbending to bring up a white wall identical to the others. "After all you and your little girlfriend have been through, you wouldn't want to kill her…would you?"

With that insane laugh ringing in his ears as the wall closed around them, Aang held onto Katara, struggling not to cry as he eyed the injury on her leg.

"I'm sorry, Katara."

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A/N: Oh bad, bad, bad Azula! I bet you didn't expect her to have planned the thing with the aneidoku, huh? Dun dun dun! Remember to review!


	7. Gen

A/N: Hi everyone, I'm back again! Now I know what you're thinking - What in the world took you so long?! Well, for one thing, life kept me busy for awhile. And for another thing...have you ever had one of those times where you have an entire basic plot of a story planned out, but there's just one chapter or two that gets to you? That's the trouble I had with this chapter for awhile! But now, I will hopefully be able to update my fics a lot more often! Anyway, enough rambling, I know you're all wondering what's going to happen next, so I won't keep you waiting!

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Sokka, Suki, Toph, Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, and Iroh were all desperately searching for any type of clues, as Appa and Momo trailed behind them. Zuko had sent several guards to watch over things at the palace while they went to look for Aang and Katara. Unfortunately, they weren't having much luck.

"How are we ever going to find them?" Sokka exclaimed as they wandered through the outskirts of the Fire Nation. "We've asked just about everyone we've met, and no one seems to know anything about where Katara and Aang might have been taken!" Sokka muttered under his breath about how Azula was going to get what she deserved the moment they found her.

Suki tried to calm Sokka down, as he looked like he was about to explode. "They can't of gone too far in one night. We'll find them, Sokka."

Zuko furrowed his brow in confusion. "It just doesn't make sense. There are guards stationed all around the palace - it would be extremely hard for anyone to get past them unless they were very quiet, yet able to jump out and attack at any moment.

Sokka groaned. "That kind of reminds me of the Dai Li who worked for - " he stopped in the middle of his sentence, his eyes suddenly narrowing. "Azula must've used the Dai Li in order to get to Aang and Katara!"

Ty Lee coked her head at him, looking slightly nervous. "You mean those earthbender spy-people who would just seem to pop up out of nowhere?"

Toph nodded affirmatively, lightly kicking the ground with her foot. "They're the ones. I thought I had seen enough of them for one lifetime! And I can't even see!"

Mai sighed. "Then how are we supposed to find them if no one seems to have seen anything?"

Iroh, who had been quiet for the past minute or so, suddenly got a strange look in his eye. "I have an idea," he said, as he started to walk toward a small building. Everyone followed in the direction where Iroh was walking, but as Zuko saw a small sign next to the building, he let out a frustrated groan.

"Uncle!" Zuko exclaimed impatiently, "This is no time to be thinking about tea! We have to look for Aang and Katara!"

Iroh didn't seem to be fazed by Zuko's exclamation. "I may be going here for a bit of tea, but there's someone I think you might like to talk to." Iroh entered the building as he continued to explain. "The Kun family might have seen something."

"Do they own this place?" Zuko asked, still hoping that his Uncle had a very good reason for coming there besides tea.

Iroh nodded. "Indeed they do. The Kun's have a 13 year-old son. If the rumors of what he can do are true, he might be able to help us." He glanced over to a table nearby, where a fair-skinned boy with dark brown hair was sitting, leaning over something. "I think that's him right there."

As the Gaang approached, the boy seemed rather quiet, concentrating on what he was drawing. He almost didn't seem to notice them at first, but the moment he saw them, he stood up and bowed. "It is an honor to meet you, Fire Lord Zuko. And you as well Fire Lady Mai."

"Thank you," Mai and Zuko both said. But before they could comment any further, Sokka hurriedly spoke up.

"Did you see anything suspicious last night?" Sokka demanded.

"Huh?" the boy said, startled by what Sokka had said.

"Our friends were kidnapped last night," Suki explained. "We've been asking around if anyone saw anything last night that might give us a clue as to where they've been taken."

The boy's brown-eyed gaze turned serious. "I didn't really see anything," he said slowly, "but I think I might be able to help in some way."

"Really?" Suki said excitedly. "Oh, thank you...uh.."

"Gen," the boy answered with a slight smile. "My name's Gen. Who are you guys?"

"I'm Suki," Suki said, "and this is Sokka, Toph, and Ty Lee." She gestured to each of them in turn. "And I can see you already know Zuko and Mai."

Ty Lee's attention, however was turned to the drawing. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the picture that the boy had drawn. "It looks almost like a footprint."

Gen smiled. "That's what it is."

Mai looked slightly confused. "Why in the world would you draw footprints?"

Gen turned back to his drawing as he answered. "It's part of my work. I'm able to detect people's footprints, and remember who's they are." He made several final brushstrokes on his drawing. "I guess being an earthbender kind of helps with that."

"You're an earthbender?" Toph exclaimed. She smiled a little.

"Yup."

"But you live in the Fire Nation!" Sokka said, confused.

Gen slightly frowned at Sokka, with a look that clearly said _I get that a lot._ "You think that all benders only live in their specific nation? For all you know, there could be firebenders living in the Earth Kingdom!"

"Okay, okay!" Sokka said defensively, putting his hands up in the air.

"So, this footprint thing," Toph said slowly, "how does it work?"

Gen turned around and closed his eyes. "All of you, stand in different places."

The Gaang obeyed, all the while wondering exactly what Gen was doing.

"How can he tell anything if his eyes are closed?" Sokka whispered.

"Uh, _hello_!" Toph snapped, frustrated that Sokka seemed to have forgotten - again - that she was blind, and she was able to earthbend with the best of them. "They didn't call me the Blind Bandit for nothing!"

"Sorry!" Sokka whispered.

Zuko hushed them. "We'll find out what he's doing in a minute."

Suddenly, with his eyes still closed, Gen turned around and placed his hand on the floor. He almost seemed to follow an invisible path, following it until he reached Sokka.

"Found you, Sokka," Gen said, even before he opened his eyes.

Sokka looked completely astonished. "What the-?! How did you-?!"

Gen stood up as he opened his eyes. "That's my 'footprint thing'" he said, quoting what Toph had said earlier.

"But how did you do that?" Sokka's eyes were still wide with astonishment. "I'm wearing shoes!"

Gen laughed a little. "It doesn't matter. Your foot aura still shows through."

"So you see the auras in people's feet?" Zuko asked. _If we can get him to help us..._ he thought, impressed by the boy's skills.

"What are auras?" Ty Lee asked before Gen could answer.

"They're a person's energy," Zuko answered.

"Exactly," Gen said. "I can detect who a person is through their aura. You'd be surprised at how much feet can tell about a person. It's like palm reading. For example," he placed his hand on the floor, then turned to Toph, "you are a lot like me - you can earthbend, you can tell a lot about a person through your feet, and you are very firm in what you believe in."

"Toph's eyes widened and she smiled, impressed. "Wow, you're good!" No one seemed to notice, but a slight blush had crept up onto her cheeks.

"So can you come with us?" Sokka quickly asked, "to help save our friends?"

"According to his parents, yes," a voice spoke up. It was Iroh. "I told them about our problem and they said he could come."

Gen grinned. "Awesome!"

As they walked out the door and Gen waved good-bye to his parents, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "What are they?!" he asked, pointing a startled finger at Momo and Appa.

"Oh," Sokka said casually, "that's Momo and Appa. Appa's the big furry bison."

Gen's startled gaze got that serious look again as he turned directly to Sokka. "Who are your friends?"

"My sister, Katara," Sokka answered, "and our friend Aang."

"_Avatar_ Aang?"

"Yeah," Sokka confirmed, starting to look furious. "I am going to make sure Azula and the Dai Lee pay for this!"

Upon hearing this, Gen's gaze hardened, and his eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" Suki asked, concerned.

"The Dai Li," he said softly, "I've always had my suspicions about them. I went to Ba Sing Se once, and everyone told me they were just trying to protect the city, but-"

"They're wrong," Zuko said. "They work for my sister now."

"Exactly." Gen sighed. "At least now they're beginning to realize that the Dai Li are bad!"

"How does that help us?" Mai asked. She clearly didn't see any advantage to him having met the Dai Li once.

"It helps us," Gen said with an exasperated sigh, "because I memorized their footprint auras. I never forget one." Before anyone could comment further, he placed his hand on the ground and closed his eyes, seeming to search for a particular footprint. Suddenly, his eyes opened, and pointed in the direction they were headed. "They went this way."

Everyone let out sighs of relief. They had just gotten a huge step closer to finding their friends.

Toph smiled a little at Gen, impressed by his ability that was similar to her own. "Now we can go find Sugar Queen and Twinkletoes!"

"Huh?" Gen asked, a confused expression on his face.

"Toph's nicknames for Katara and Aang," Suki explained as Gen led the way.

"Cool," Gen commented before running ahead. "Come on, let's go!"

Zuko smiled, regaining his hope of finding his friends. Maybe this would be easier than he thought.

Finding a cure for Aang, however...that was another story.

And all of them prayed that, when they did finally find their two friends, it wouldn't be too late to save the young Avatar's life.

And little did they know, their friends might have less time then they thought...both of them.

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A/N: I know, cliffie at the end! I know you're probably wondering why Katara and Aang weren't in this chapter, but I feel like I needed a chapter partly to introduce Gen, and partly for a little comic relief. Don't worry, I will put up the next chapter as soon as I can (probably next week, or a few days from now), and that one will have a LOT of Kataang. Then that will explain the cliffie (at least, part of it)! I bet with Gen around, you'd think the story is close to being over. Well you'd be absolutely...wrong! There's a lot more going on than you might think so far...if you want a bit of a hint at what might happen, just look at the fanfic title. Read and review!


	8. Torn Apart by Torment

**A/N: I know, I know, I delayed a little bit on the update, but I'll make it up to you now! This chapter is basically purely Kataangst, to make up for the lack of it last chapter! If I keep going on with this Author's Note, I might give away something, and I've kept you waiting long enough anyway, so I'm going to go on to the disclaimer and the main story! On with the fic! **

**Disclaimer: I own the computer I am typing this on, the keyboard I am using to type with, a bunch of Avatar merchandise, Gen, and the aneidoku. I do not, however, own Avatar.**

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Aang and Katara had slowly figured out how the mechanism that Azula and the Dai Li created worked. It seemed to have a sort of reflective property, as whatever energy directed at it from Katara's and Aang's side of the wall was rebounded back. Because they knew that there was risk of being hit, the two avoided it as much as they could. Hurting each other was the last thing they wanted to do.

The moment Azula had left them, Aang had torn off a small part of his shirt and wrapped it around Katara's injury. But Katara insisted that she would be fine – it was Aang she was worried about.

She carefully knelt beside Aang, who was trying to fight his way between consciousness and delirium. "Katara," he would whisper occasionally, "I won't…leave you!... my promise…I have to keep it…"

"I know," Katara whispered back, even if Aang couldn't hear her. She knew that the poison was having an effect on him, and he'd been having these delirium spells for the past hour. Luckily, they never lasted long – two minutes at most.

Slowly, Aang opened his eyes, finally coming back into full consciousness. He blinked a couple times to clear his head, and gazed at Katara. "We have to find a way out of here," he said, managing to sit up.

"We will, Aang," Katara reassured him. "We'll get out of here together and we'll find a way to cure you. You'll be okay – I promise."

The Avatar managed a smile, "you've said that to me before."

"Well, it's true!" Katara said, smiling back. "A promise is a promise."

"Thanks, Katara," Aang said before standing up. "Any ideas? Of how we can get out of here?"

Katara looked thoughtful. "Maybe you could try to firebend one of the other walls? I don't think they're made of glass."

Aang cautiously went over and felt one of the other walls. "They aren't, but they're made of metal." He tried to use firebending on the walls, but they didn't seem to budge. He groaned aloud in frustration. "If only Toph were here!"

Suddenly, Aang started coughing. At first Katara thought – and hoped – that it was just a normal cough, one that would subside quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Aang was coughing so much that he had to lean against Katara for support.

It's the poison, Katara thought, but didn't say aloud – that would only make Aang feel worse. However, she could tell by the scared look in his eyes that that was exactly what he was thinking.

When the coughing finally subsided, Aang managed to speak. "Do you…have your waterskin vial?"

"I do, but there's no water in it," Katara admitted, putting a hand on Aang's shoulder. "And even if there was, remember what happened?" She gestured slightly to Aang's wound. "It just seemed to make things worse."

"It could help you though," Aang pointed out. He placed his hand on Katara's, trying to comfort her and himself.

Suddenly, they heard a noise, and a door they hadn't noticed before opened up. The door blended in with the walls so well that Aang and Katara wouldn't of seen it if the Dai Lee hadn't come barging in.

Aang used his airbending to knocked the Dai Li away from him and Katara. But just when he thought he had gotten rid of all of them, more kept coming. Aang was so focused on keeping the first dozen or so Dai Li members that had come through away from him and Katara that he didn't notice the new Dai Li had come into the room until it was too late. The Dai Li suddenly jabbed chi points on Aang's body, making him unable to bend, before incasing him in chains, binding his arms and legs together.

To Aang's horror, the same thing had happened to Katara. Apparently the Dai Li must of learned the same chi-blocking skill that Ty Lee had since the last time he had encountered them. "Let her go!"

"Oh, I'm afraid that's not possible, Avatar," Azula said, coming into the room. She gazed triumphantly at Aang and Katara before nodding to the Dai Li.

It seemed to be a silent signal that Azula had already gone over with the Dai Li, for a moment after her nod, they dragged Katara and Aang out of the room. The two managed to glace at each other.

"Where are they taking us, Aang?" Katara whispered.

"Silence, water peasant!" Azula snarled, firebending dangerously close to Katara. Had her blue fire gotten a few inches closer, Katara would have been burned.

"Don't call Katara that!" Aang shouted, glaring at Azula. If looks could freeze people, Azula would be frozen for at least 50 years.

"I can call her whatever I want, Avatar," Azula hissed with an insane laugh. "I have power over both of you now!" Shooting fire at the two just to frighten them, she glanced at the Dai Li who held Katara captive. "Take her," Azula ordered, "and make sure the Avatar can see what we do to her!"

"NO, YOU CAN'T!" Aang shouted out in rage as some of the Dai Li dragged Katara away, "YOU CAN'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME! I PROMISED I'D STAY!"

"Of course I can," Azula laughed with an insane smirk on her face. "And your silly promise doesn't mean anything! It's your fault she's here anyway."

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" Aang shouted in protest. The moment he shouted those words, he realized with a sudden shock – and Katara did too – that those were the very same words he had said in his hallucination, when something very similar had happened. It had been a warning of what was to come.

But Aang didn't get a chance to say anything else, for the Dai Li who had taken Katara had bound her chains to part of a wall in the next room. As Aang watched in horror as Katara struggled to free herself, the Dai Li used earthbending to levitate small boulders – where they got them Aang didn't know – and began to move them toward Katara. Thankfully, they didn't hit her, they seemed to be there as a threat. Unfortunately, Azula's fire wasn't so merciful. As Azula's fire hit Katara, it seemed as if that was another signal, as several of the Dai Li began to hit Katara with their boulders.

"NO!" Aang cried out in terror, "YOU'RE TORTURING HER!"

"Of course we are, don't you get that?" Azula said with an insane malice in her voice, "You have no power here!" As if to prove her point, after firing a searing hot blast of blue fire at the terrified Avatar, she snapped her fingers and the Dai Li members near Aang, who also had boulders, hit him as well. Azula only watched them, laughing.

After a few more agonizing moments, but what seemed like an eternity to Aang and Katara, Azula smiled with a satisfied gleam in her eyes and said, "That's enough. Put the Avatar and his girlfriend back in their cell." Almost instantly, the Dai Li obeyed her and dropped their boulders, then releasing the chains that held Katara to the wall. The rest of the chains however, were untouched.

When they got back to the door to Aang and Katara's cell, the Dai Li quickly unchained the two and threw them into the room before closing and locking the door. Had they been in a better condition, Aang and Katara would instantly have leapt up and attacked the Dai Li. However, both the chi-blocking and the beatings they had suffered, accompanied by the force with which they had been thrown in, left them in no condition to fight.

Aang instantly lifted his head as much as he could, looking around in the light that the lantern in the room provided for him. "Katara?"

"Aang?" Katara managed to stand, but the condition she was in made Aang gasp. Her arms and legs were both bleeding, and she looked shaken.

"Katara…you're bleeding," Aang cried out in a choked whisper. His heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened in dread as he realized – Katara's condition had also been in one of his hallucinations. Hurriedly, he tore off another part of his shirt to make some small bandages for her injuries. He knew that they had to find a way to get out, and fast.

Katara managed a weak smile. "I'll be fine Aang, right now we need to focus on find a way to cure your – " She instantly stopped talking as Aang slumped to the ground, shaking. "No! Aang!" Katara gently shook him, trying to snap him out of it, but it was no use – he was having another one of his hallucinations. "Wake up Aang!"

The only response she got from Aang was a sudden cry. "No, don't do it! No, no! Please!"

"Aang?"

"If you do it…you'll…you'll…"

Katara reached out to comfort him, but Aang shuddered violently, creating a small vortex-like wind, and his next words made her freeze.

"Katara, please! Don't do it! You can't! No! NO!"

As suddenly as it had started, the hallucination ended, and Aang opened his eyes, sweating and shaking. He stared into Katara's eyes as if he had just seen one of the most distressing sights in his life.

Katara carefully embraced the young airbender, who was still shuddering slightly, and touched his hand, which Aang grasped so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"Aang…what happened?"

For a moment, Aang contemplated on whether or not to tell Katara exactly what he had seen. I have to tell her, he finally decided. Taking a deep breath, he said, "It was another hallucination. We were still in this place, but the one difference about it was that there was a small window, which showed that it was nighttime. And…" Aang paused ofr a second, "I know where we are…I saw it in my vision."

"Where are we?"

"Ember Island," the young airbender said quietly.

"The Dai Li must have taken a boat to bring us here," Katara reasoned.

Aang nodded and swallowed hard, urging himself to continue. "I was chained to the wall, like…like you were before," he said hesitantly, trying to draw his mind away from the events they had just went through. "You had your waterskin vial, and you bent….something out of it."

Though Aang had tried to make it seem like he didn't know what it was, the terrified gaze in Aang's eyes told Katara that he knew exactly what it was. "What was it?" she asked softly.

Aang sighed, not saying anything for a short amount of time. Finally, his voice shaking, he whispered, "the aneidoku poison." When he heard Katara gasp, he almost felt as if he couldn't continue, but he knew he had to, for Katara's sake. "You told me that you had to do it…that you were doing it for me."

"Doing what?" Katara had a very bad feeling where this was going, but she told herself not to jump to conclusions.

"You told me that you would die for me," Aang said, tears in his eyes. "You…you drank the venom, then…you cut your finger with something and traced it across my wound. And the venom was transferred to you."

Aang's's choked words and heartbroken gaze penetrated Katara's heart. "Oh Aang!' she whispered, holding him close to her, but gently.

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save my life," Aang said quietly, swallowing hard. "It was scary…"

"And it might work." Katara whispered, her gaze looking sad but thoughtful.

"What?!" Aang exclaimed, looking at Katara desperately. Please don't let it be true! his mind screamed. "Katara, please! Please tell me that you're not planning on–"

"It's the only way, Aang," Katara said in a whisper, looking at Aang with a mixture of love and desperation. "It could be the only way to save your life." She glanced at the bandaged part of Aang's left arm, where the aneidoku had injected its poison, and then at his pale, shaken form.

"But Katara…" Aang stopped and sighed. As heartbroken as Aang was by Katara's firm decision, he knew that she was right – what had happened in the vision might be their only chance of saving him. "How are we going to-?"

Just then, the two of them heard the door open again, and Azula came into the room. "Well, isn't that sweet," she said with mock sympathy, "the two lovebirds are trying to comfort each other in the Avatar's last days!"

A thought suddenly occurred to Aang. A way for Katara's idea – as heartbreaking as it was – to be carried out. In the time that him and Katara had been there, Azula had used fire…but never lightening. And Aang had an idea why.

"Azula," Aang said firmly, standing up, "you've lost your ability to lighteningbend, haven't you?"

"What makes my abilities any of your business, Avatar?" Azula questioned. "Whether I can bend lightening or not, I have control over you!"

Aang shook his head. "You think you have control over others, Azula," he said, "but it's just something you say because you don't want to admit that you have lost control over yourself."

"You dare to question me?" Azula snarled, the glare in her eyes boring into him.

"In order to bend lightening," Aang explained, "you need to have control. But you've lost that control – you've lost balance." He tried not to let his voice waver.

"What are you saying, Avatar?" Azula questioned, arching an eyebrow at Aang.

"It's the Avatar's duty to bring balance to the world," Aang continued, "maybe I can help bring balance back to your life too…and bring your lighteningbending back." He knew it was risky to make this offer, but it was the only way that Katara might have a chance of escaping.

Azula looked inquiringly at him, seeming to search him. She knew there had to be a catch.

"On one condition," Aang said. "You let Katara go!"

Azula's eyes narrowed. "You'll 'bring balance to my life' as you say…if I let your girlfriend go?"

Aang nodded.

After giving the two of them a suspicious – Aang would almost say "paranoid" – look, Azula muttered "Fine! But if you try anything funny, I'll make sure you wish you'd never been born!" She turned outside the door. "Dai Li! I've made a deal with the Avatar – release his girlfriend."

The few members of the Dai Li who had responded instantly grabbed hold of Katara, but Aang tightly gripped her hand. He wasn't letting them take her yet.

"Be careful, Katara," Aang whispered, kissing her slightly on the cheek. "I love you."

"I'll be back," Katara whispered even more quietly, not wanting Azula or the Dai Li to hear. "I'll keep my promise, Aang."

"Stop being all lovey-dovey already!" Azula snapped at them having a tone of something almost like disgust in her voice. She turned to the Dai Li. "Take her away now."

As Aang watched Katara being taken, he felt a terrible sense of loss, and confusion. On the one hand, Katara was now free, but she'd come back to bring the cure to save Aang.

But both Aang and Katara felt a terrible heartbreak, because though they felt afraid of being separated, they were even more afraid of what would happen when Katara returned with the venom.

And the fact that scared them most was that if Aang's vision came true, then the two of them reallly would be separated...because though Aang's life would be saved…Katara would lose her own.

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A/N: I know, that chapter was just FILLED with Kataangy fluff and angst! In fact, that was basically all that was in the chapter! Well, good news: they have an idea of how to cure Aang, but the bad news is…well…you know. Anyway, read and review.


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